Institutional Knowledge

This session was far more “nuts and bolts” than I expected — useful nonetheless. Key takeaways:

• Use virtualization to test, test, and test some more your configuration and deployment environment. Also a great place to play with and learn the new technologies involved (SCCM, Server 2008, Vista itself, etc.)
• BDD Solution Accelerator
• Win PE is a core part of the BDD imaging process
• In environments where SMS/SCCM may not be the best fit (like smaller labs or clusters), Server 2008 and BDD make deploying and managing Vista easier
• Server 2008 consolidates many, many imaging and deployment tools into one console

I think it says something that MS seems to be past the point where significant new technologies/tools are being developed with respect to workstation management and deployment. The big pushes are now on tool consolidation, interoperability, and — most importantly — frameworks to wrap them all together.